Louis Silvie Zamperini

Well-known nonfiction author Laura Hillenbrand, in her best-selling biography, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, describes the chilling reality faced by those living in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. As the title suggests, this is not the typical World War II tale of hardship that ends in liberation; rather, it follows the main character, Louis “Louie” Zamperini, through his childhood, Olympic performances, and military career leading up to his captivity, as well as his later marriage and many years of healing. Hillenbrand's purpose is to impress upon her readers the scale of this tragedy as well as remind them of the horror that so many nameless soldiers endured. She adopts an emotional yet straightforward tone in order to get readers to sympathize with the characters and truly understand what they went through. To do so, she manages to make the unique story of one man represent the thousands of others going through the same tragedy.

After reading the biography of Louis Zamperini’s life by Laura Hillenbrand, it’s obvious Louie’s fearlessness carried him through numerous obstacles. Louie, fearlessly determined to conquer insurmountable odds without breaking, proved to audiences that an ordinary man can transform

In the beginning of Hillenbrand’s story of Louie Zamperini, Louie’s courage and bravery would become immediately obvious. His sister Sylvia said, “‘You could beat him to death, and he wouldn’t say ‘ouch’ or cry’”(9) . In spite of Louie’s strong character and bravery in his

Louie Zamperini: Olympian, War Hero, Role Model Author, Laura Hillenbrand, in the biography Unbroken, narrates Louie Zamperini’s thrilling journey through World War II. Hillenbrand’s storyline goes into heart wrenching detail of the excruciating experiences Zamperini endured. Throughout, and particularly, when Louie’s war plane Green Hornet crashes, the author portrays the ideals of never giving up and self-determination through diction, imagery, and pathos. Throughout Unbroken, Hillenbrand continuously uses a variety of diction to keep the readers attached. Specifically, when Louie’s plane has engine failure and plunges into the Pacific, the author uses very tense and powerful word choice in order to show uncertainty and to create suspense.

Louis Zamperini, the main character of Laura Hillenbrand’s biography Unbroken, led a promising running career in his life prior to his military service and captivity. In 1931, Louis was encouraged to join the Torrance High School track team by his older brother, Pete. Running came easily to Louis, and became a force to be reckoned with rapidly in the racing world, dropping his mile time to just under five minutes by 1933. He gave some of the fastest men in the country a scare at the 1936 Olympic Trials when he nearly beat Don Lash, America’s fastest runner of the 5,000 meter race, and proceeded to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Aside from the resounding fame that his running career provided him, it also instilled discipline, dedication, and astounding willpower that followed him through his life.

From a very early age, Louie Zamperini was a visible young man. His charismatic/rebellious ways, and his athletic accomplishments continually put him in the spotlight, but years in Japanese POWs camps slowly eroded his visibility. He, like so many others in captivity, experienced efforts to make him “invisible.” During WWII, POWs were systematically stripped of their dignity in the camps of Japan, and as Hillenbrand writes, “without dignity, identity is erased” (189). Dehumanizing tactics by Japanese guards deny prisoners of their dignity and humanity. In

Phil and Zamperini suffered through many camps, with many harsh and brutal guards. Amazingly, America won the war and they were saved. Unfortunately, Louie was not the same. He had post-traumatic stress disorder and was obsessed with finding and killing the Bird. After that, he went through some tough times until he was reintroduced to God and religion. He began to find himself and started living a happier life.

In the biography, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, a young boy named Louis Zamperini’s life revolved around running and training for the Olympics. Running had a huge impact on his life and ended up changing how he would act. In his early days, Louis was an irresponsible and rebellious kid. Running would later force him to buckle down and focus on running and training. Many people influenced Louis, but only one made the biggest impact on his life. That person is Pete Zamperini, Louis’ older brother.

First of all, the theme of survival was demonstrated throughout the book. Starting off with Zamperini surviving from the eugenics by transforming himself into an Olympian athlete in Part I, to the plane crash in Part II, next the 47 days of drifting in the Pacific Ocean in Part III, then the Japanese POW camps in Part IV, and finally overcoming his mental illness in Part V were all examples of the theme survival being demonstrated. In addition, the theme of resilience was part of the protagonist Zamperini’s personality. At the Japanese POW camp, Naoetsu, the Bird, a sadistic Japanese POW guard, tortured him and stripped away his dignity. The Bird has let Zamperini perform tasks such as holding up a six foot beam after discovering Zamperini was desperate for medical care. Being told to hold the beam or else being whacked by the guard’s gun, Zamperini held it for 37 minutes. Considering his physical condition during that time period, it was incredible how Zamperini’s mental state helped him through the difficulties of the Japanese POW camp. Lastly, Hillenbrand integrated the theme of redemption mostly in Part V. The following quote from that section explains it all. “It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (p.386). After the war, Zamperini had nightmares of the Bird, sank into

During the second World War, an olympic record holder, Louie Zamperini, was one of the few men that got shot down into the ocean and was stranded for 47 days on a lonely, little raft. The great American hero we all have heard of didn’t start out like you would have thought. He was a young scoundrel who was influenced by his brother to run for something better than away from is problems. After years of running and going to the German Olympics to set the best lap run in the 5,000 meters, Louie had gone into the Air Force and had gotten into trouble at a Japanese POW camp after a crash. The book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, expresses Louie’s life exceptionally well, especially

From the beginning, Hillenbrand highlights a series of specific details to exaggerate Zamperini’s uncontainable personality that would carry him through the war. Page fifteen states, “To get even with a railcar conductor who wouldn’t stop for him, Louie greased the rails. When a teacher made him stand in the corner for spitballing, he deflated her car tires with toothpicks. After

During World War II, thousands of POWs experienced isolation and dehumanization in an Japanesethe attemptefforts of the Japanese to make them feel invisible. In Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, American POW and former Olympic runner Louis “Louie” Zamperini rwas just one of the many soldiers who was dehumanized while in Japanese

Thousands of men and women would bunk on a boat for up to almost a year. When traveling to California, the men and women on board had to live several months eating old and moldy food, this caused many to die or become ill. The unhealthy voyage was also very dangerous, they had to go through many storms, some could even lead to a ship sinking or a person getting thrown overboard. The author stated “ The trip around Cape Horn was a dangerous as well as unpleasant. Ferocious rains and freezing gales buffeted the vessels, pushing

Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.

In the biography Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, a troubled adolescent boy named Louis Zamperini revolves his life around his running career. Starting at such a young age, running had many impacts on Louie’s life. The high demand of training kept Louie distracted from making unintelligent choices he had previously been making. Running changed the young teenager he was and the man he was going to become.